1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to food equipment, such as commercial coffee brewers, tea brewers, iced tea brewers, hot water dispensers, coffee bean grinders or other food grinders, insulated beverage dispensers, and other food related apparatus used to either prepare or dispense food or beverages or ingredients, and more particularly to such food-related apparatus with protective housings and methods of making such housings.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
All known food-related housings of the type having four planer walls are generally made from thin-walled, stainless steel, or the like. Such stainless steel is required for purposes of hygiene, durability and maintenance of an attractive and clean outward appearance. It is also known to form housings made from molded plastic but such plastic housings are not suitable for commercial applications for reasons noted above. These four planer panels are sometimes formed from a single rectangular work-piece that is provided with three right angle, or 90-degree, bends or corners. After the right angle bends are formed, the distal ends are pulled together and permanently welded to form a fourth right angle bend in the housing where the two ends meet. Alternatively, four folds are provided, and a weld joint is made in the middle of one of the four walls. The finished housing, wall assembly has a rectangular cross-section with two pairs of opposite walls that are parallel to each other. Each wall of each pair of parallel walls is perpendicular to the two walls of the other pair of parallel walls. Both of the opposite ends of the rectilinear housing wall assembly are open and must be closed by other elements of the housing. Two non-parallel walls are joined when the distal ends of the work piece are secured together.
Generally, a bottom one of the open ends is fitted onto a rectilinear base sub-assembly that may be made of plastic or the like. Likewise, the other open end is fitted with a top cover sub-assembly that may also be made of plastic and includes an access opening and a movably mounted closure for selectively closing the access opening. The base sub-assembly has a rectangular shaped, outer, perimeter ledge surrounding an inner, upwardly standing, rectangular shaped, bottom lateral support member that is received within the open bottom of the rectilinear housing wall assembly. The rectilinear housing wall assembly is fitted over the inner lateral support member with the inner surface of the walls adjacent the bottom pressed against the lateral support member. The bottom edge of the rectilinear housing wall assembly rests upon the outer, perimeter ledge. The width of the outer perimeter ledge is substantially equal to the width of the thin walls of the rectilinear housing wall assembly and the outer surface of the walls forms a generally smooth continuous surface with the outer surface of the base beneath the ledge.
Likewise, the top cover sub-assembly has a rectangular shaped, outer, perimeter, downwardly facing shoulder surrounding an inner, downwardly extending, rectangular shaped, top lateral support member that is received within the open top of the rectilinear housing wall assembly. The rectilinear housing wall assembly is fitted around the inner lateral support member with the inner surface of the walls adjacent the top pressed against the top lateral support member. The downwardly facing shoulder rests upon the top edge of the rectilinear housing wall assembly that thereby supports the top cover sub-assembly. The width of the outer perimeter shoulder is substantially equal to the width of the thin walls of the rectilinear housing wall assembly and the outer surface of the walls forms a generally smooth continuous surface with the outer surface of the top cover above the shoulder.
While suitable rectilinear steel housings are made by this technique, there some disadvantages in the manufacturing process. Because the walls have a planer thin-wall construction with a thickness in a range from 16-gage to 24-gage, for instance, the finished housing wall assembly is easily distorted to a generally non-rectangular shape, and the individual walls are easily distorted to a non-planer configuration before being mounted to the base sub-assembly and to the top cover sub-assembly, as described above. This distortion makes assembly of the wall sub-assemblies very difficult. Specifically, distortion makes it difficult to connect the top and bottom of the finished housing wall assembly with rectangular shaped and rigid mounting grooves in a top closure a base with which the top and bottom of the wall sub-assembly must be mated and attached.
Generally, the rigidity may be improved by increasing the thickness of the work piece of the wall assembly, but this adds to the cost of materials and also to the weight of the finished housing assembly and the food equipment employing the heavier housing. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a manufacturing process that enhances the lateral rigidity of wall assemblies made from thin-walled, flexible work pieces to facilitate assembly with non-flexible, rigid base supports and top closures of the finished housing assembly that overcomes the assembly problems noted above.